Tribes: Ascend will be supported by micro-transactions, your cash purchasing you cosmetic items, new weapons, and extra loadout slots. Global Agenda has only recently adopted the same model, and experience will help shape their decisions, but Todd describes the scheme as “analogous to League of Legends” and “horizontal in design”. The application of cosmetic items is obvious, but loadouts require some explanation. “A loadout consists of armour, two in-hand weapons, a melee weapon, a grenade belt, and a pack that might hold something, such as a cloaking device.” Todd envisages that loadouts will be purchased wholesale, but “you could potentially get variations of items in your loadout as an additional micro-transaction.” Hi-Rez expect everything outside of specific vanity items to be achievable by simply playing the game. “Our philosophy is if they affect the game, they don’t have to be purchased.”

Sounding pretty good to me. We'll see if the gameplay holds up, though.